Photography News Issue 43

Photography News | Issue 43 | absolutephoto.com

49 AwardWinner - First tests

OlympusOM-DE-M1Mark II £1849

Specs

Price £1849 body only or £2399 for M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm 1/2.8 Pro kit Sensor 20.4 megapixels, 4/3in Live MOS, with TruePic VIII and Supersonic Wave Filter sensor cleaner Sensor format Micro Four Thirds, 17.4x13mm ISO range 200-25,600 in 1/3 or 1 EV ISO steps, low ISO 64 Shutter range Manual shutter 60secs-1/8000sec; electronic (silent) shutter 60secs Pro capture H 60fps approx up to 48 frames, Pro Capture L 18 fps, anti-shock sequential shooting 8.5fps, sequential shooting H 15fps up to 84 frames, L 10fps Metering system Digital ESP metering (324 zones multi-pattern), spot metering, centre weighted metering, spot with highlight control, spot with shadow control. Range EV-2 to 20 EV (17mm f/2.8, ISO 100) Exposuremodes PASM (and Art Filter) Exposure compensation +/-5 EV in 1.0, 0.5 and 0.3EV steps. In HDR and video, only +/-3EV. Bracketing available Monitor 3in Vari-angle LCD touch panel 1037K dots, EVF with 2.36M dots Focusing TTL phase difference detection system, contrast detection system. Manual AF, preset MF, single AF, continuous AF, AF tracking and single AF and MF Focus points 121 points cross-type phase detect and 121 point contrast detect AF. Options of all sensors active, group target (nine areas or five areas), single point Video 4096x2160 (C4K)/24p/IPB 3840x2160 (4K)/30p, 25p, 24p/IPB Connectivity Wi-Fi, HDMI micro (type D), USB 3 (type C), microphone and earphone jacks Storage media Dual SD slots. Slot 1 UHS I, II, Slot 2UHS-1. SD, SDHC, SDXC Dimensions (wxhxd) 134.1x90.9x68.9mm (without protrusions) Weight 574g (body, battery and card) Contact olympus.co.uk to 1/32,000sec Drivemodes

The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II got a corking review back in PN39, but I’d not had a chance to get my hands on it until recently. With a reader-voted PN Award in Professional CSC category just announced, I was expecting great things. I wasn’t disappointed. The E-M1 Mark II shows how far CSCs have come in just under a decade. Whereoncethesecamerasfeltmorelike fashion accessories, it operates like a pro-level camera. I took it on aweekend triptoManchesterand,fittinglyforboth location and test, it rained all weekend. I didn’t drop it in a canal, but it was exposed to hours of freezing drizzle, and thanks to its high level of weather sealing, it didn’tmiss a beat. As to the overall build, the greatest compliment I can give is that the Mark II feels like a camera rather than a piece of electronics, as many CSCs do. It also fits neatly into a WWII-era Swedish Army respirator bag. Bonus. I was impressed by the 2.360K dot electronic viewfinder. For a bit of context, I use full-frame DSLRs in the main, so I’m usually put off by EVFs; they seldom feel natural to me in the way an optical viewfinder does. But I got used to the Mark II’s EVF really

Above The Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II offers an incredible set of features in a small and light body.

can really see it at slower shutter speeds. I was able to shoot down to 1/2sec and still get usably sharp images. I found the Mark II’s AF fleet- footed, too. Using a 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro lens, near-to-far switch was almost instantaneous, and modes such as tracking worked brilliantly, even with erratic subjects. The number of selectable pointswas alsobeneficial: 121, which can also be set in groups. The E-M1 Mark II’s 20.4-megapixel sensor produced nicely detailed pictures, by far the best I’ve seen from a Micro Four Thirds camera, and while lacking the detail of bigger chips, they’re perfectly good in their own right. In noise performance, it was great from the base ISO 200 up to about 1600. I wouldn’t push it much beyond that, unless forced to. I started off shooting in Auto ISO across the whole range, but quickly capped it there. JPEGs were a bit muddied by the in-camera noise reduction, so I switched it off to keep the detail – albeit with a bit of grit. Battery life was a bit of a concern. After about 300 shots I was down to 5% power and I hadn’t been shooting long exposures, although the IS system was in constant use. There’s room for improvement there, but that said it’s only a matter of investing in a spare battery, so not a big deal. KS

for specific subjects, and recall them. For instance, I set up one of the Custom modes to shoot in low light, combining a higher ISO with spot-metering and manual focus, using the focus peaking overlay in the EVF. Away from those Custom modes, there are all themanual inputs youneed right there on the camera body, plus a fewre-mappablebuttons.Andof course there’s the 3.2in touchscreen, with which you can dip into a quick menu if required. For me, the main inputs were enough to keep the screen flipped over and protected most of the time; in the next version I’d love to see a small LCD on the back of the screen, similar in size to a top-plate LCD, where the basic shooting info could be displayed. There might even be space for a few more buttons.Who knows? Much has beenmade of theMark II’s amazing shooting speed –at 15fps with the mechanical shutter and 60fps with the electronic version, it is tremendous. That said, it’s a very specific function, and only really required if you’re into high-speed photography, or don’t trust yourself at a more modest 5fps or 6fps. You’ll also need a fast SD card or it can lag inwriting fromthe buffer. Allied to the speed of shooting, the Mark II’s Image Stabilizer is excellent, with 5.5EV of compensation, and you

quickly, and without the eye strain that I often get. It has options that an optical viewfinder can’t provide, such as a live histogram and focus peaking, which I really enjoyed. Whether you’re a pro or an enthusiast, you’ll likely have a suite of modes you like to switch between, and the Mark II makes this easy in a few ways. The Custommodes (C1, 2, and 3), accessedviathemodedialareeasytoset up, and let you tune the camera quickly

Verdict

I’m usually put off by electronic viewfinders... but I got used to the Mark II’s EVF really quickly

There’s no doubting this is Olympus’s crowning achievement in the Micro Four Thirds line: is has some amazing features that offers a genuine alternative to hi-spec DSLRs. The high-speed shooting and image stabilisation are outstanding, and while smaller sensors will always struggle to compete with larger chips, overall image quality is excellent. The price is a concern though; at £1849 body only, it’s far more likely to attract upgraders than converters.

Pros Shooting speed, stabilisation, AF, handling, build Cons Price, high ISO performance